Coffee, tea and pastry sitting down

[emsny]

In the past couple of years, have any new and terrific salons de thé appeared in Paris, where a pair of tuckered-out travelers can sit down and have coffee and pastry that is imaginative, delicious and well executed? Or classic, delicious and well executed. Indeed, are there any old favorites we should know about? The obvious ones are already in our address book (Dalloyau, Ladurée, Hévin if we feel like something from their limited range).

Edited October 6, 2007 by emsny (log)

[John Talbott]

I assume you've checked out this topic which is fairly recent, 2006 and 2007.

[emsny]

No - I hadn't seen the "Tea in Paris" thread. Sloppy/lazy of me. Many thanks. ... But now that I've looked at it, I see that it actually deals mainly with tea, per se, a beverage of which I am not especially fond. It's pastry I'm fond of. What we're after, I suppose, are first-class pâtisseries containing tables, chairs and an espresso machine, where visitors to Paris can eat pastry of an afternoon without toting it back to the hotel and picnicking on the bedspread. For a brief while, members may recall, a selection of Hermé's pastries was served in a white-painted place somewhere in the VIIIe. Do any of the other prominent/up-and-coming pâtissiers offer table/bar service? And remember Christian Constant's place on the rue du Bac? Am I right in thinking that it is no more?

Edited October 7, 2007 by emsny (log)

[42390]

Christian Constant (the chocolatier not the chef with all the places on Rue St Dominique) is at 37 Rue d'Assas in the 6th. He has been at that location for quite some time (I first visited there in early 1999) and is still in business there, or at least was as on mid June 2007 when I last stopped in.

[julot-les-pinceaux]

Totally second Christian Constant -- one of the best in town, imo. I like sitting at Dalloyau but you have to pick carefully because some pastries look better than they taste, that's place where you should stick to the classics. And definitely the hotel Bristol is where I would seat for a coffee and a pastry. I would also recommend BE on bd de Courcelles. And there is always the option of getting pastries from a good pastry shop and sit in a café -- it is usually cheaper. Among ordinary patisseries, I like Pichard rue Cambronne, la Fleur d'Oranger rue Bayen, and Grégory Renard's macaroons. And The tarts and financiers from Kayser. Oh and Seurre rue des Martyrs, big time. Those are just some that I know -- the beauty of Paris' patisseries-boulangeries is that there are so many local favourites and they all taste different. Try having different croissants each morning (from good places each time) -- they are all about someting different, the taste, the texture, the butter, the sugar...

[emsny]

Thanks - there were some there I didn't know at all. And the Bristol had never occurred to me, though I've eaten extraordinarily well in its restaurant.

I'm editing this a bit later to ask for a more specific reference on BE, blvd de Courcelles. Thanks.

Edited October 8, 2007 by emsny (log)

[julot-les-pinceaux]

I'm editing this a bit later to ask for a more specific reference on BE, blvd de Courcelles. Thanks.

←

Click here

The passion fruit tart, the visitandines (=financiers), the walnut bread, the tourte are some of the highlights. Don't miss their fancy artisanal Nutella, ueber expensive and super good.

[emsny]

Thanks - that's a new one on me. Off topic, but there's a similar operation attached to the Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Tokyo, and the bread and pastries are stunningly good, especially the traditional stuff.

[caseyell]

I'm still mourning the closing of the elegant little pastry shop that stood near the church at the end of the Tuileries Gardens. The name has escaped me, but their financiers were sublime. It is now a wheatgrass/yogurt/etc shop. <sob>

[caseyell]

out there in blogland, dorie greenspan and "paris breakfasts" frequently discuss pastry shops

[42390]

I'm still mourning the closing of the elegant little pastry shop that stood near the church at the end of the Tuileries Gardens. The name has escaped me, but their financiers were sublime. It is now a wheatgrass/yogurt/etc shop. <sob>

←

I hope you are not talking about Cador on ave Admiral Coligny.

[caseyell]

That might be it. Tiny little space with a counter along the left side as you entered--then small, cherubs-and-flowers bedecked dining room beyond.